Ski boot straightener and carrier



Sept. 16, 1958 M. STIMLER 2,851,709

SKI BOOTYSTRAIGHTENER-AND CARRIER Filed April 18, 1957 IN VEN TOR.

whileskiing. Since a la-r' UfllICd 8153 1168 This inventionfrelates to" a clamping mechanism for maintaining boots in their'pi'opei' shape while providing a convenient means for carrying same, and moreip'articularly to -a pair of devices for attachment tothe toe and heel plates, respectively, of a pair ofski" boots for the purpose of keeping 'theboot soles straight during storage and portage to and from theski area.

Heretofore this has been accomplished by devices requiriiig a common base support member with a plurality of toe andheel clamps attached thereto for the purpose of-attaching the boots to the base support;

There are several disadvantages to the old devices, one of which is the requirement of a cornmon'base support which; after the skier has d'dfin edhis boots atthe skiing area, leaves him with a' bulky, cumbersome piece of auxiliaryequipment' which cannot be carried withfhiin ge number of skiers; l'ivirig far distant from the skiing area; prefer tof use public trans portation rather than 'r'is'k f" ivir'ig their private automobiles into skiing areas which "are,-' of necessity, located where conditions of snow and ice prevail, they are left with no place to k'epsuch'aiiiriIiary' e'quipm'entwhere it will not be subject to loss air-misappropriation. Another disadvantage of the old devices is that they require a sliding member which must be adjusted and locked to fitdiffe rent shoe siz'e's. Fiirtlie'rniorethe clamping-arrangemerits are unnecessarily complicated.

The invention" described and claimed herein possesses all of the advantages and none of the foregoing disadvantages of the prior art devices. Ii1 accordancewith the present invention this is achieved by providing a pair of small clamping devices, whi'clf'may be carried in the users pocket, for attachment to the toe and heel plates respec tively of a pair of ski Boots in order to maintain the boot soles in substantially flat contact with oneanother thereby utilizing the piessure of one sole against the other without the need for a common base support member interrnediate'tdthe soles of the boots as-heretoforeemployed. Msieover the device is adaptable tofit-all boot sizes without requiring further adjustment, as will appear more clearly in the following description.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a new and improved clamping device for maintaining ski boots in their proper shape, particularly while the boots are drying after use.

Another object is to provide a device which may be readily assembled or disassembled and which is adapted to 'fit into the pocket of the user when not in use.

A further object is to provide a new and improved clamping device for a pair of ski boots which is readily adapted for use with pairs of boots of different sizes without requiring adjustment of the clamping members.

Still another object is to provide a new and improved clamping device for boots which is compact in size, inexpensive to manufacture, simple in construction and reliable in use.

Still other objects will become apparent upon consid- Patented se r. 16,1958

't'ionaccording to a preferred embodiment thereof;

Fig. 2 is anenlarged'end view of theito'e clamp and toe plates of Fig. 1 with the'c'arrying strap removed;

Fig. 3 isan enlarged end view of theheel' clamp and heel plates' of Fig. l;

"Fig; 4" is aview, somewhat enlarged,'of the toe clamp and carrying strap;

Fig. 5 is a view on which is shown the position of a pairof ski boots in initial engagementwith thetoeelamp of Fig. 4 during assemblythereof; andf Fig. 6 is a view of an alternative'form of a toeclamp for use with the present invention.

Referring now 'tothe drawing for a' more complete'understanding of theinvention, and more particularlyto Fig. 1' thereof, there is shown thereon a pair of ski boots 10' and 11 clamped together inthe assembled carrying orst'orag'e position'with the boot soles 1'2a'nd 13 flexed against one another and maintained in shape by means of the clamping a'ction'of a bifurcated toe clamp 14 and a heel clamp 15 on the toe plates 16xand17 and'the heelplates 13 -and'19 respectively. 'A carryingstrapfzl, made of any materialsuitable' for the purpose suclr'as leather or the like, is shown attached tothe toe clamp such that'the ski boots," when in the assembled position shown in Fig. 1,: may: be eonveniently carried or suspended for storage.

Fig. '2is an enlarged'endview" of the 'toecl amping device of Fig- 1 showing the't'o'e plates -16 and 17 clamped together by the toe clamp 14. Each of the toe plates has a slotted arcuate portion 22-23 respectively formed thereininto which the ski binding normally-fits for 'attaching a ski to the boot at the toe portions thereof. The toe clamp fits intothese. slotted- -arcuate portions firmly clamping the toe plates together in a manner 'to be more fully described.

Fig. 3 is another enlarged end view-of. Fig. 1' showing the heel plates 18 and 1-9 clamped together bythe heel clamp 15 on the outwardly extending heel'plate clamping edges 24, 25, 26 and 27 of the heeliplates' which provide the means whereby the skis areinor'm ally attachedto the boots at the heel portions thereof. The heel clamp 15, asbest shown on Fig. 3, comprises two heel clamping; members 28-"29 formed in mirror symmetry, each with a pair of hook shaped ends 31-32and 33-34, Fig. l, and a central looped portion such as'the portions 35 and 36illustrated. An elastic member 37 m-ade preferably of rubber or its equivalent is provided for interconnecting the clamping members 2'8-29-at the looped portions thereof, although it-will 'beunderstood that, if desired, the member 37 may be composed of a' helically formed spring metal. I

In Figs. 1 and 3 the elastic member 37 is somewhat stretched and exerts sufiicient force on the clamping members to keep them 'abutted against the edges 38, 39, 40 and 41 of the heel plates, thereby maintaining the heel clamp in the illustrated position. The elastic member possesses sufficient elasticity to permit either heel clamping member to he slid either oil or on the heel plates along the edges 24-25 or 26-27 for the purpose of disassembly or assembly, as the case may be. In practice this is done by holding one of the clamping members between thumb and forefinger and pulling it in a direction away from the other member.

The distance between the clamping surfaces of the clamping member 24 and clamping surfaces of clamping member 25 is preferably equal to or slightly greater than the distance between the clamping edges 24-25 and the .to-bottom position.

clamping edges 2627, respectively, when the heel plates 1819 are in the bottom-to-bottom position shown in Figs. 1 and 3 whereby the clamping members of the heel clamp may easily he slid on or off the heel plates at will.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the bifurcated toe clamp 14 formed of a resilient material possessing a strong spring action such, for example, as steel, and having outwardly extending portions 43-44 with inwardly curved ends 4546 and a central looped portion 47 which provides both a strong spring clamping action and a loop through which the carrying strap 21 may be secured thereto. The angular clamping surfaces 48 and 49 of the toe clamp 14, formed between the outwardly extending portions and the inwardly curved ends, are so shaped as to prevent the toe clamp from slipping out of the clamped position with the toe plates as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and to enable the toe clamp to support the weight of the assembled ski boots so that they may be lifted and transported by the carrying-strap.

The toe clamp 14, is shown in its unstressed position in Fig. 4, and is formed so that the distance between the clamping surfaces 48 and 49 is slightly less than the distance between the arcuate surfaces 22 and 23 when the toe plates 16 and 17 are in the bottom-to-bottom position as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. With this arrangement the toe clamp is forcibly spread when engaging the toe clamps of a pair of ski boots as shown in Fig. 1, thereby exerting a clamping force on the toe plates sufficient to hold the toes of the boots together by reason of the resiliency and stiffness of the material of which the toe clamp is composed.

Fig. 5 shows the first operation in the initial engagement of the toe clamp 14 with the toe plates 1617 in the assembly of a pair of ski boots and 11 to the carrying or storage position shown in Fig. 1. In the position shown in Fig. 5 the inwardly curved ends 4546 of the toe clamp will clear the clamping edges of the arcuate surfaces 22 and 23 of the toe plates 1617 as shown. After this has been done the heel plates 18-19 are forced together causing a toggle action of the toe plates 1617 and a leverage action of the boot sole 12 against the other sole 13 with the toe plates acting initially as a fulcrum.

The final step in the assembly of the boots is the application of the heel clamp 15 to the heel plates 1819, which are now-being held by the operator in the bottom- This is accomplished by first sliding one of the heel clamping members, for example the member 28, over the outwardly extending heel plate clamping edges 24-25. Then the other heel clamping member 29 is grasped between thumb and forefinger and, .by stretching the elastic member 37, it is slid over the outwardly extending heel clamping edges 2627. The heel clamp 15 is now in the position shown in Fig. 3, retaining the heels of the boots in mutual abutting relation and the ski boots 10--11 in the assembled position of Fig. 1.

To disassemble the ski boots, the foregoing assembly procedure is reversed.

Fig. 6 is a view of an alternative form of the toe clamp of Fig. 4 wherein the central loop of the toe clamp is formed by at least one complete loop 50 of the spring material.

Another modification would be to construct the clamps for other types of toe and heel plates, than those shown in the drawing, by reshaping the clamping surfaces.

Still another modification would be to form the clamps with gripping ends so that they may clamp directly to the boot soles without the necessity of engagement with toe and heel plates.

Whereas the invention has been described with reference to a particular example which gives satisfactory results, it is not so limited, as various changes and modifications may be made .by a person skilled in the art to which this invention pertains, after understanding the invention, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and it is my intention, therefore, in the appended claim, to cover all such changes and modifications.

What I claim as new and desire to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

In combination, means for attaching a pair of ski boots in sole-to-sole relation, each of said boots having a toe plate and a heel plate secured to the toe and heel portions thereof respectively, said toe and heel plates each having arcuate and planar surfaces respectively formed thereon for attachment to a ski, comprising a first clamp device having a pair of complementary surfaces for engagement with the arcuate surface portions of said toe plates in a manner to engage and maintain the toe plates in closely mutually abutting relation when secured thereto, and a second clamp device havingtwo pairs of complementary surfaces for engagement with the planar surface portions of said heel plates when the toe plates are clamped by said first clamp device in a manner to maintain the heel plates in closely abutting mutual relation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 337,311 Davis Mar. 2, 1886 374,023 Watts Nov. 29, 1887 402,961 Moody May 7, 1889 506,958 Walden Oct. 17, 1893 793,625 Cornell June 27, 1905 1,590,172 Thorberg June 22, 1926 2,518,179 Quinby et al Aug. 8, 1950 2,551,603 Hurxthal May 8, 1951 2,625,696 Dahl Jan. 20, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,980 Great Britain Feb. 1, 1905 113,533 Great Britain Feb. 28, 1918 139,848 Switzerland Sept. 1, 1930 77,799 Norway Feb. 8, 1949 1,009,541 France Mar. 12, 1952 

